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KP admits sending 'provocative' texts

Kevin Pietersen has admitted that he sent \'provocative\' text messages to his friends in South Afican team.

London: England's star batsman Kevin Pietersen has admitted that he sent 'provocative' text messages to his friends in South Afican team and further apologised for the 'inappropriate remarks' about his team-mates.

Kevin Pietersen said in his apology: "I did send what you might call provocative texts to my close friends in the SA team.

"The texts were meant as banter between close friends. I need to rein myself in sometimes.

"I apologise to Straussy and the team for the inappropriate remarks at the press conference and for the texts. I truly didn't mean to cause upset or tension particularly with important games at stake."

ECB has confirmed that they have received a formal apology from Pietersen in return and said that future discussions with the maverick batsman will decide whether he would be picked to play for England in the future. England Managing Director Hugh Morris said: "We are in receipt of Kevin's apology, but further discussions need to take place to establish whether it is possible to regain the trust and mutual respect required to ensure all parties are able to focus on playing cricket and to maintain the unity of purpose that has served us so well in recent years.

"Critically, those discussions should take place behind closed doors, rather than in the media spotlight.

"A successful conclusion to this process is in everyone's best interests and is required for Kevin Pietersen's potential selection in all forms of the game to be considered.

"At the moment we have an important Investec Test match to focus on and therefore ECB will make no further comment until such time as is appropriate."

England skipper Andrew Strauss said, "It is a first step definitely. There’s a lot more to investigate with all this. I wasn’t involved with Kevin Pietersen’s dispute with the board but once players involved important I got involved. The way we interact as a group is of vital importance to me and I'm not willing to turn a blind eye to that. It's a broader issue than just text messages. It's about trust and respect."